THE Hinduja Group on Friday (24) confirmed its interest in India’s grounded airline, Jet Airways.
The Indian conglomerate is evaluating options to select a stake in the debt-ridden airline, said Dheeraj G Hinduja.
Hinduja is the chairman of India’s commercial vehicle manufacturer, Ashok Leyland, an arm of the Hinduja Group.
It is still premature to talk anything about the debt-ridden airline and ongoing discussions, Hinduja said while announcing Ashok Leyland's financial results in the Southern Indian city of Chennai.
The latest confirmation from Hinduja came after the reports that the conglomerate was in discussions with various stakeholders in Jet Airways.
The group is planning to invest Rs 10 billion to Rs 15bn to revive the crisis-hit company, the local media reports said.
Meanwhile, the discussions between the Hinduja Group and the Middle Eastern airline company, Etihad Airways which owns a minority stake in the Jet were moving slowly, media reports said.
The representatives of the Hinduja Group held discussions with Etihad officials last week in Abu Dubai.
The top executives from the State Bank Bank of India (SBI), which lead the lenders’ consortium were also present at the meeting in Abu Dhabi.
The total investment required by Jet Airways to restart its operations is around Rs 59.50bn.
Etihad, in its latest offer, said it would be able to invest only Rs 17bn and acquire 24 per cent stake.
In recent weeks, the lessors have intensified their activities to deregister and repossess planes after Jet Airways stopped its all operations indefinitely.
Hundreds of pilots, staff members, engineers, and top executives including the chief executive of the airline have already moved out of the company.
Valuable slots of Jet Airways reallocated to other airlines.
The airline struggled to compete with low-cost carriers like IndiGo and SpiceJet that now dominate Indian skies and the debt-laden carrier was forced to ground its entire fleet last month, resulting in the loss of over 20,000 jobs.
Jet Airways has debts of more than $1 billion and been in a tailspin for months.
It defaulted on loans and failed to pay many staff since the start of the year.
After its lenders declined to extend more funds, the carrier was forced to ground its entire fleet on April 17, triggering protests by thousands of employees who have been not paid salaries.
Hinduja brothers owned business empire had tied up with German airline Lufthansa’s air cargo services business in the 1990s.
According to the media reports, the group had looked at a possible stake in India’s national carrier, Air India when the company was moved forward for privatisation, however, a deal failed to materialize.
Hinduja Group owns a wide range of businesses including automotive, financial services, oil and gas, media, telecom, and others.
The Hinduja Group, a family business, was founded in Mumbai in 1914.
British citizens Srichand Hinduja, 83, and Gopichand Hinduja, 79, who are based in London, are two of the four brothers controlling the conglomerate.
